The John Batchelor Show

Tuesday 18 September 2018

Air Date: 
September 18, 2018

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-host: Larry Kudlow, Director of the National Economic Council under US Pres Donald Trump.
 
Hour One
 
Tuesday 18 September 2018/ Hour 1, Block A:  Elizabeth Peek, Fox News and The Hill, in re:  Elizabeth Peek, Fox News and The Hill, in re:  "Very low odds of a recession in the next three years...any downturn is 2 and a half to seven years away..." @LizPeek @FNC
Tuesday 18 September 2018/ Hour 1, Block B:  Elizabeth Peek, Fox News and The Hill, in re:    . . .Worker participati0n rates are still low: millions of people can get off the sidelines and come in to work, so we have a lot of expansion ahead. Further tax cuts would help. . . . Frustrating that:  GOP campaign strategist encouraging candidates to talk about the economy – but they’ve been cowed by Nancy Pelosi!   Need to be more aggressive in spreading this message.
Tuesday 18 September 2018/ Hour 1, Block C:  Victor Davis Hanson, Hoover senior Fellow, in re:  Judge Kavanaugh was prepared to see a vote on his joining the Supreme Court on this coming Thursday. However, when a woman who levelled an accusation against him was invited to testify before a Congressional committee on Monday, the vote was delayed; now she declines to appear, has suggested major delays (i.e., have the FBI investigate, which it’s not allowed to do in this instance). Accuser cannot identify the date or place of the alleged aggression, which was said to have occurred thirty-six years ago. Her credibility has sunk close to zero. Unsuitable for Congress to have deferred the Thursday vote, but understandable in view of concern for the three or four Republicans who want to jump ship on the vote. Sen Diane Feinstein has had the accusatory letter since July of this year. Accuser’s recollections differ from her psychotherapist’s notes on the matter (which themselves were written two decades after the purported event). DiFi is an 85-yr-old white millionaire married to a billionaire, is in electoral trouble in her district. To boot, her chauffeur of twenty years’ standing, a confidant, has recently been revealed to be a Chinese Communist Party spy! On the matter of the accusation, DiFi says: “About its accuracy, I don't know.” 
Tuesday 18 September 2018/ Hour 1, Block D:  Bill Whalen, Area 45 podcast, Hoover, in re:  It's alleged that when Bret Kavanaugh was fifteen, over thirty-five years ago, he was aggressive against a young woman. Sen Diane Feinstein, who’s held her Senatorial seat since 1985, has also held on to the accusatorial letter since July 30 of this year.  Why didn’t she release it earlier?  After she received the letter, we're told, Dr Ford [the accuser] hired an attorney and took [an irrelevant] lie-detector test. 
 
DiFi’s conduct may not affect her electoral chances; her opponent, deLeon, is having an uphill battle.  He doesn't have enough traction to win. 
John Cox against Gavin Newsom: “the sweet spot” – the heart of voters’s concerns.  Political reform as a lead plank doesn't quite do it; John Cox thinks it lies in the DMV, whefr there’s omnipresent misery in adapting to the 2020 ID requirements, the DMV is understaffed and horribly pokey. Also important: Proposition 6, the proposed repeal of last year’s gasoline tax increase. 
 
Hour Two
Tuesday 18 September 2018/ Hour 2, Block A:  Stephen F. Cohen, NYU & Princeton professor Emeritus; American Committee for East-West Accord; author: Soviet Fates and Lost Alternatives: From Stalinism to the New Cold War, & The Victims Return: Survivors of the Gulag after Stalin;  in re:   Breaking news about Vladimir Putin, Syria:  The shooting-down of a Russian surveillance plane with 15 on board was from a chain of strategic events. Not downed by Israelis. Retaliatory measures will be aimed at securing the safety of Russian personnel.  Turns out that the Syrians just shot widely in all directions.  Putin corrected the record by absolving Israel and calling Netanyahu to clear the air.  We’re now at the edge of an accidental war every day.  . .  Putin was anointed Yeltsin’s successor in 1999.  . . . Yeltsin used tank cannons to abolish a freely-elected parliament.  Destroyed savings of pensioners. Fought two wars.  Was elected specifically because of Bill Clinton’s active support. Putin inherited not a democracy but an anarchy.
Tuesday 18 September 2018/ Hour 2, Block B:  Stephen F. Cohen, NYU & Princeton professor Emeritus; American Committee for East-West Accord; author: Soviet Fates and Lost Alternatives: From Stalinism to the New Cold War, & The Victims Return: Survivors of the Gulag after Stalin;  in re: US media began to refer to Putin as an autocrat – defined as a despot. He’s a decider but he’s not a despot, not having that level of actual power.  Vast Russian bureaucratic system.  Tax policy, social welfare, others, where Putin has to balance competing interests. He’s called “a soft authoritarian.” 
Tuesday 18 September 2018/ Hour 2, Block C:  Stephen F. Cohen, NYU & Princeton professor Emeritus; American Committee for East-West Accord; author: Soviet Fates and Lost Alternatives: From Stalinism to the New Cold War, & The Victims Return: Survivors of the Gulag after Stalin;  in re:  [The unlikelihood of Putin’s being anything like a Fascist, in view of his personal and family history plus the multi-multi-ethnic makeup of the Russian republic.]
Tuesday 18 September 2018/ Hour 2, Block D:  Stephen F. Cohen, NYU & Princeton professor Emeritus; American Committee for East-West Accord; author: Soviet Fates and Lost Alternatives: From Stalinism to the New Cold War, & The Victims Return: Survivors of the Gulag after Stalin; in re:  [Russia today and in history]
 
Hour Three
Tuesday 18 September 2018/ Hour 3, Block A:  Joshua Green, Bloomberg, in re: A Republican National Committee poll suggests that the upcoming Midterms will be good for the Democratic Party; Trump supporters refuse to believe this, so may not set out to vote — which terrifies GOP strategists. Those who disdain Trump will vote. All agree that the economy is doing fabulously.  Trump is better at inflaming his enemies than gathering his supporters.  The November elections will be a referendum on Donald Trump. 
Tuesday 18 September 2018/ Hour 3, Block B:  Michael Ledeen, FDD, in re:  Diane Feinstein, a prominent member of Sand Francisco society, held an accusatory letter for months, then revealed it in September to sandbag a nominati0n. Her chauffer of twenty years has now been revealed to be a [formal] Chinese spy.  FBI told her that years ago but she did naught. Now the alleged Chinese spy is said to be working happily in California.  What? One of her former staffers hired Fusion GPS to employ Christopher Steele, with $50 mil raised to [deploy] it. She was chairman of the Intelligence Committee!  She’s deep into three major melodramas: Chinese espionage, Russia-related electoral problems, and now Russiagate. What's going on here?
She and Schumer are desperately trying to stall Kavanaugh’s accession to the High Court until after the Midterms, when they hope to have won.
The matter of Chinese espionage is shocking.  [Why is the spy not in prison?]  The scale of DiFi’s involvement in the Kavanaugh accusation.  FBI has done six full background reports on Kavanaugh’s history.  
Tuesday 18 September 2018/ Hour 3, Block C:  Bill McGurn, WSJ, in re:  Brett Kavanaugh
Tuesday 18 September 2018/ Hour 3, Block D: Joe Pappalardo, Popular Mechanics, in re:    Japanese billionaire will travel around the Moon on an Elon Musk vehicle.
 
Hour Four
Tuesday 18 September 2018/ Hour 4, Block A:  Wilson, by A. Scott Berg
Tuesday 18 September 2018/ Hour 4, Block B:  Wilson, by A. Scott Berg
Tuesday 18 September 2018/ Hour 4, Block C:  Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com, in re: Mars - Vera Rubin Ridge, unsuccessful drilling.  Dawn (a NASA probe) around Ceres:  (here, production of small volcanoes). Found 22 relevant domes.
Tuesday 18 September 2018/ Hour 4, Block D:  Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com, in re: Mars; Moon.